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Forest Excision: Kenya
Parliament summons two Ministers
Nairobi/Kenya-22ndFeb2001:
THE Kenyan Parliamentary
Committee on Environment (PCE) has summoned the Minister for
Environment, Francis Nyenze and his lands counterpart, Joseph
Nyaga to give a commitment that they will not excise any of the
remaining few Kenyan forests.
The two ministers will have to
appear before the committee on Wednesday, February 28.
Last week, Mr Nyenze gave a 28-day
notice of intention to degazette 14 forests around Mt Kenya, in
the Rift Valley and in Western Kenya.
Yesterday Environment Minister
Nyenze was questioned for more than four hours by the House
Environment Committee in a heated debate and was asked to halt the
proposed allocation of 167,000 acres of forest land countrywide
for alleged settlement, much of it in the Mau Forest - the home of
the Ogiek community.
A Member of Parliament was quoted,
stating that the committee says it will file itself an objection
to the intended excision of the forestland, while the Ogiek
community already has done so (see WILD_PEOPLES report).
The Ogiek community, who have
proven to the courts that the Mau forest is their homeland, have
filed an objection to the Government’s bid to excise parts of
the expansive Mau Forest in Rift Valley Province. The court order,
filed through a Nairobi lawyer, Mr Kathurima M’Inoti, said
yesterday the Kenya High Court order filed in 1997 was still in
place and no allocation of East Mau Forest should take place. The
court order follows an advertisement in the current issue of the
Kenya Gazette by the Minister for Environment, Mr Francis Nyenze,
seeking to excise a total of over 67,000 hectares from various
forests.
While the Kenya government last
week announced its intention to set aside about 10 per cent of
Kenya’s gazetted forests, claiming it would be given to
squatters, local papers reported today that the parliamentary
committee was dissatisfied with the minister’s explanations and
demanded that he appear before the committee next Wednesday
together with the lands minister. Critics say the land will only
be given out to win support for the Moi Government as the General
Election draws near and will not benefit squatters at all. Some
call it bluntly an election gimmick by the president Daniel arap
Moi government to win support.
“Let them release a list of the
squatters to be settled”, says Sagana Wildlife Conservation
Self-Help Group that works in the Mt Kenya region, where 4.507
acres of Mt Kenya forest reserve covering the vast Hombe Forest
are under threat. The group, whose area borders the Hombe Forest
reserve and depends on the streams and rivers that flow from the
Hombe catchment area, challenged the Ministry of Lands to release
a list of of the people to be settled at Hombe as “squatters and
the landless are known”. Many Kenyans, they said, relied on Tana
River’s hydroelectric generation dams and whose tributaries have
their source in Hombe Forest. The group said it was alarmed
the Government had already sent surveyors to Hombe to demarcate
the vital water catchment area into shambas.
Many recalled that Ndathi settlement scheme on Tana River was cut
out in 1990 to settle the same “squatters”, while most of the
plots, however, went to undeserving people.
There has been a hue and cry among
environmentalists and the general public over the announcement,
published last week, on official plans to hive off large forest
areas for settlement. “We want them to give a commitment that
they would stop the forest excision”, a local daily quoted a
parliamentary official.
A notice of objection would
ordinarily suspend the effect of the gazette notice until the
matter is fully examined by Parliament. The committee might also
use the Environmental, Management and Coordination Act, which came
into force in April, last year, and empowers individuals to sue
the government to stop degazettment.
It will have to be checked if the
Kenya Government with this degazettment attempt is not actually
violating the status of Mount Kenya Forests beeing a World
Heritage Site or the international Convention on Biological
Diversity, to which Kenya is a signatory.
SOURCES: Ogiek Support Group, Ogiek
Welfare Council, Ogiek Rural Integrated Projects, Sagana Wildlife
Conservation Self-Help Group, The Green Belt Movement and stories
filed by Jennifer Wanjiru, Rights Features Service; by Chege wa
Gachamba and Muthui Mwaithe - DAILY NATION and by Biketi
Kikechi - THE EAST AFRICAN STANDARD.
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Parliament summons
two ministers
by
Jennifer Wanjiru, Rights Features Service
(February
22, 2001) The Kenyan Parliamentary Committee on Environment (PCE)
summoned Minister for Environment Francis Nyenze and his lands
counterpart, Joseph Nyaga, to give a commitment that they will
not excise any Kenyan forest.
The two will
appear before the committee on Wednesday, February 28.
The committee
says it will file an objection to the intended excision of the
forestland.
On February
21, Environment Minister Nyenze was questioned for more than four
hours by the committee and was asked to halt the proposed allocation
of 167,000 acres of forest land countrywide, much of it in the
controversial Mau Forest, the home of the Ogiek community.
Local papers
reported today that the parliamentary committee was dissatisfied
with the minister's explanations and demanded that he appear before
the committee next Wednesday together with the lands minister.
"We want
them to give a commitment that they would stop the forest excision,"
a local daily quoted a parliamentary official.
Last week,
the government announced its intention to set aside 10 percent
of Kenya's gazetted forests, claiming that it wanted to settle
squatters. But critics say that this is an election gimmick by
President Daniel arap Moi's government to win support.
"Let them
release a list of the squatters to be settled," says Sagana Wildlife
Conservation Self-Help Group, which works in the Mt. Kenya region,
where 4,507 acres are under threat.
A notice
of objection would suspend the effect of the gazette notice until
the matter is fully examined by parliament.
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